Fiber-needle sharpener for talking-machine records



Jan. 2 1926. 1,569,403 J. Q. SLYE FIBER NEEDLE SHARPENER FOR TALKINGMQCHINE RECORDS Filed June 5, 1922- 35 sharpenin v I Patented 12, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN QUEEN SLYE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TO STAND-ARD APPLIANCE AND SOUVENIR COMPANY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT O! CO-LUMBIA, A CORPORATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

FIBER-NEEDLE SHARPENER FOR TALKING-MACHINE RECORDS.

Application filed June 3,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that JOHN QUEEN SLYE, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, re-

siding at Washington, in the District of 5 Columbia, has invented newand useful Fiber-Needle Sharpeners for Talking-Machine Records, of whichthe following is a specification.

' As a rule wooden needles ,are used principally in connection with thebest records,

- namely those which are rendered by the best singers and players, forinstance, such as operatic music and the best songs in general.

A great many needles of this character are used and it is also knownthat when a fiber needle has been once used it is discarded. Possibly aneedle may be used twice. And due to the fact that such needles arediscarded after having been used once or twice,

0 a reat'many needles are used.

eretofore, as disclosed in the co-pending a plicationof John Queen Slyefiled on the 2 th day of May, 1922, Serial No. 564,161, a suitablesharpening device has ben employed to sharpen fiber needles. The deviceas embodied in said application is supported detachably from the tableof the talking machine. There are objections more or less to thischaracter of sharpening device, due to 39 the attachable and detachableconnections between it and the table. The ring in this" application andwhich constitutes the sharpener is mounted concentric with the table andhas means to switch the needle from the track or groove on the ring to tthe 'recor which may be supported upon the table. I 4

The present device has for its purpose the provision of a shar ener,either forming an 40 integral part of t e record, or separable therefromand has an eccentrically disposed track connecting the sharpening trackand the sound wave or groove of the record, so that as the fiber needletracks around the sharpening groove or track it will automaticallytransfer or switch from the sharpening track to the sound groove.

Another purpose is to provide a sharpener of this character capable ofbeing subse- 0 quently -applied to al records, or, as previously stated,being made an integral part of the records to be'molded.

/ It is to be understood that the particulars herein given are in no wayh'mitiveand 1922. Serial No. 565,758.

while still keeping within the scope of the invention, any desiredmodification of detail and desired proportions maybe made in theapparatus according to circum-' stances.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the record on line 22 of Fig. 1, alsoshowing a blank sheet of some suitable material to cover the soundgroove while emery is being applied to the sharpening track.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view of a portion of a record,showing the sharpening track.

Fig. 4.- is still another enlarged view of a-portion of a record,showing a. ring pro- 'vided with a sharpening track and connected to themarginal edge of a record.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a record, showing a ring applied to themarginal edge thereof, said ring having a spiral sharpening track.

Fig. 6 is asectional view on line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the record shown inFig. 6 showing the ring with its sharpening track on an en arged scale.as applied.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates conventional form of talkingmachine record which is provided with the usual sound wave groove 2.This record is designed to be made of the usual material from whichrecords are made, and during the course of construction the face of therecord, near its marginal edge3, is supplied with a spiral sharpeninggroove 4, considerably deeper than the sound wave groove. In fact thesharpening groove or track 4 in actual practice is designed to be as deeas the beveled end 5 of a fiber needle 6 s own clearly in Fig. 3. Thebeveled end of such a needle is approximately of an inch, more or less,and by cutting down the surface of the bevel 5, the needle will becomesharpened. Fiber needles are as a rule trian lar m cross section, and byproviding a evel on one end, one corner of the needle is formed with thesharpening point which rides in the sound wave groove of the record.

The sharpening track or groove, approximately at a point indicated bythe character 7, is connected by an eccentrically arranged track 8 withthe sound, wave groove at a point indicated by the character 9.Ohviously, after once playing a record, and it is desired to repeat therecord without changing the needle, the tone arm of a talking machine,not shown, may be shifted to the outer portion of the record so that thebeveled face 5 of the fiber needle may engage the sharpening track 4.The sha 1}- ing track is approximately V-shape in cross section and itwill be noted, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, one wall 10 of the track 4- isrelatively steep, while the opposite wall slopes on an angleapproximately 45. This.

latter more or less gradual sloping wall 11 when formed is roughened, inorder that a very fine layer of emery or carborundum or similar finelygranulated material may be applied thereon, as indicated at 12. After-roughening the gradual sloping face 11, it

is first supp-lied with a' fine coating of adhesive material thinlydistributed. Priorto applying this thin coat of adhesive material, theface of the record, which is provided with the sound wave groove, isfirst covered with a thin blank of suitable material, either paper,fabric or the like, such as indicated at 13 in Fig. 2. A suitable weightmay be applied upon the blank to hold it flat against the face of therecord, while the sharpening track or groove is being supplied with theadhesive material or the emery or carborundum. i

As previously stated the thin'layer of adhesive is applied while thesound wave groove is covered and subsequently to this the emery orcarborundum, in the finely granulated or powdered form, is sprinkled orblown into ,the groove. After the adhesive has partly dried, the surplusemery or carborundum is blown or wiped from the margin of the record.

This action may be repeated two or three times before the adhesivebecomes thoroughly dried and then after the adhesive is completely dry,a tool provided with suitable felt may be drawn through the track toinsure wiping away the surplus emery or carborundum from the relativelysteep wall of .the groove and at the same time remove parpoint. Thishard-pointed toolis used sub: sequently to the use pointed tool. I

In Fig. 5 the talking machinerecord is the same as that shown in Fig. 1,but instead of the sharpenin track bein formed in a part of the recor itis formed on a ring 14,

of the felt covered which is subsequently applied to the record.

"upper portion of the rounded edge of the record, thereby acting tosupport the ring on the record, while the record may be supported uponthe table.

The sharpening track in the ring 14 is formed in the same manner as thesharpening track carried by the record in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 5,the sharpening track,

from a point indicated at 18, merges into an eccentric portion 19, whichterminates ad acent the inner edge of the ring. The sound wave groove 20on the record, in Fig. 5, has an eccentric extension 21, which isdesigned to gradually increase in size toward "the marginal edge of therecord to a point as indicated at 22 where it may join the eccentricextension 19 of the sharpening track of the ring. Obviously, whenrepeating the record shown in Fig. 5, the fiber needle is placed inengagement with the beginning of the sharpening track, and when itreaches the point or location 18, the needle automatically travels tothe eccentric extension 19 (which merges into the eccentric extension21), and then travels to the eccentric extens1on 21. As previouslystated this latter extension gradually increases in size, that is tosay, in cross section to a point where it merges into the eccentricextension 19, therefore when the fiber needle travels to the extension21, it gradually merges into the sound wave groove 20.

In Fig. 4 a needle sharpening ring is shown as applied to themarginaledge of a record 23. This record is provided with a sharpeningtrack similar to those illustrated in the other figures, but this ring24 is ap plied to the record subsequently to the construction. of therecord. This is accom plished by providing registering recesses 25 and26 in the adjacent edge portions of the record and the ring, in whichsuitable metal plates or fasteners 27 may be embedded to hold the ringand the record rigidly connected, so as to rotate with the record as onebody. These fasteners or plates are to be located so that the eccentricextensions 19 and 21 will register when the ring is applied to therecord.

A sharpening track or groove of this char acter will remove orshave downjust sufficient of the beveled end of a'fiber needle, to sharpen thepoint or corner of the needle, sufficiently to properly track in thesound wave groove of the record, in order to reproduce the record in thesame manner as if reproduced by an entirely new needle.

hat is claimed is:

1. A talking machine record provided with a needle sharpening spiraltrack and an eccentric continuation of said track leading into andconnecting with the record groove.

2. A talking machine record provided with a needle sharpening spiraltrack connected with the sound wave groove of the record, whereby theneedle to be sharpened may automatically transfer from the sharpeningtrack to the sound wave groove.

3. A talking machine record including a sound wave groove and providedwith a spiral needle sharpening track adjacent the marginal edge of therecord, and an eccentric connecting track connecting the spiralsharpening track and the sound wave groove, whereby the needle to. besharpened automatically transfers from the sharpening track to the soundwave groove.

4. A talking machine record having a sound wave groove, the upper faceof the record adjacent its marginal edge provided with a spiralsharpening track of a length sufiicient to impart a sharpening action tothe stylus as the record makes at least one complete revolution, aneccentric groove tapering from the sharpening track to the sound wavegroove and thereby connecting the sharpening track and the sound wavegroove, whereby a needle may automatically transfer from one to theother.

5. A talking machine record having a sound wave groove, a ring separablymounted on the margin of the record and provided with a needlesharpening track, a needle transfer groove connecting the needlesharpening track and the sound wave groove of the record, to permit theneedle to automatically transfer from one to the other.

6. A talking machine record provided with a sound wave groove, of a ringcarried by the marginal edge of the record and provided upon its uppersurface with a needle sharpening track, an eccentric track connectingthe sharpening track and the sound wave groove whereby the needle mayautomatically transfer from one to the other.

-7. A talking machine record provided with a sound wave groove, a ringprovided with an under-cut inner edge and provided with an overhanginglip to overlie the edge of the record and support the ring in position,said ring having a needle sharpening applying finely powdered emery orcarborundum on the adhesive covered wall of the track, cutting down theemery covered wall, then subsequently cleaning off the surplus emery orcarborundum.

9. A talking machine record provided with a sound wave groove, the upperface of the record between its marginal edge and the outer convolutionof the sound wave "groove having a sharpening track extendingspirallyfrom a point immediately adjacent the marginal ed e of therecord to the sound wave groove, w ereby as a needle is sharpened, therecord may travel at least a complete revolution, said spirallyconstructed sharpening track havin an abrupt spiral portion connectingwit the sound wave groove.

10. The combination with a talking machine record provided with amarginal beveled edge extending slightly downwardly I and outwardly, ofa ring with its inner edge under-beveled to correspond to and engagewith the beveled margin of the record for separably supporting the ringon the record, said ring having a grinding track for sharpening aneedle, said sharpening track having a transfer groove abruptly spiraland connecting with the sharpening groove and the sound wave groove toermit the needle to automatically transfer om one to the other.

11. A method-of constructing the sharpening track of a talking machinerecord,

which first consists in cutting a track on the upper face of the recordbetween the sound wave roove and the margin of the record, spiral ytoward and connecting to the sound Wave groove, covering the sound wavegroove to expose the surface having the sharpening track, adhesively aplying finely powdered emery or carborun um 1n the track and cuttin downthe emery covered walls of the trac and subsequently cleaning off thesurplus emery or carborundum.

In witness whereof, the inventors signature is hereunto aflixed.

JOHN QUEEN SLYE,

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